AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 27 



ing and carrying on of the Journal. The first sugges- 

 tion in regard to the enterprise was made to Silliman by 

 his friend, Colonel George Gibbs, from whom the famous 

 Gibbs collection of minerals was bought by Yale College 

 in 1825. Silliman says (25, 215, 1834) : 



"Col. Gibbs was the person who first suggested to the Editor 

 the project of this Journal, and he urged the topic with so much 

 zeal and with such cogent arguments, as prevailed to induce the 

 effort in a case then viewed as of very dubious success. The 

 subject was thus started in November, 1817; proposals for the 

 Journal were issued in January, 1818, and the first number 

 appeared in July of that year." 



He adds further (50, p. iii, 1847) that the conversation 

 here recorded took place "on an accidental meeting on 

 board the steamboat Fulton in Long Island Sound." 

 This was some ten years after Robert Fulton's steam- 

 boat, the Clermont, made its pioneer trip on the Hudson 

 river, already alluded to. The incident is not without 

 significance in this connection. The deck of the "Ful- 

 ton" was not an inappropriate place for the inauguration 

 of an enterprise also great in its results for the country. 



In the preface to the concluding volume of the First 

 Series (loc. cit.) Silliman adds the following remarks 

 which show his natural modesty at the thought of under- 

 taking so serious a work. He says : 



Although a different selection of an editor would have been 

 much preferred, and many reasons, public and personal, con- 

 curred to produce diffidence of success, the arguments of Col. 

 Gibbs, whose views on subjects of science were entitled to the 

 most respectful consideration, and had justly great weight, 

 being pressed with zeal and ability, induced a reluctant assent; 

 and accordingly, after due consultation with many competent 

 judges, the proposals were issued early in 1818, embracing the 

 whole range of physical science and its applications. The 

 Editor in entering on the duty, regarded it as an affair for life, 

 and the thirty years of experience which he has now had, have 

 proved that his views of the exigencies of the service were not 

 erroneous. 



The plan with which the editor began his work and the 

 lines laid down by him at the outset can only be made 

 clear by quoting entire the "Plan of the Work" which 



